High School DxD Anthologies
by DalkonCledwin
Summary: A Repository for my High School DxD stories
1. Life 1: Family Feud

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

**xXx Family Feud xXx  
xXx Life.1: The Pervert's Sister xXx**

* * *

"So what's the catch, Ise?" the beautiful redhead sitting at the Hyoudou family's dining room table listening to one of the other diners explaining to everyone else that he had just been asked on a date.

Issei Hyoudou suddenly froze with a slightly horror struck expression appearing on his face, "What?! What do you mean, 'what's the catch', Ayame?"

The redhead looked up at him with those large soul rending green eyes of hers and remarked, "Well obviously, there has to be some sort of catch, Ise. I mean, who is actually going to ask you of all people, to date them with the reputation you and your two numbskull friends have built up around town?"

Neither one of their parents were likely to jump in and offer input, as they had already realized that Ayame was more than a little annoyed with her brother for his repeated attempts to peep on her of all people. So long as they didn't come to blows, Gorou and Miki had long since decided to stay out of their arguments.

"I… I…." Issei started to protest.

"Wait, do you not even know her name?" Ayame wondered in complete bafflement, and when Issei failed to formulate a response, she decided, "I'll tell you what, if this turns out to be a legitimate date offer, I'll take back everything bad I ever said about you or your friends."

"Deal!" Issei exclaimed. What he didn't know, was that Ayame planned on keeping watch over her brother by way of her familiar. For his own safety, of course!

* * *

Issei's date actually wound up happening a full three days after he had told his family about it, which only gave Issei more time to rub the fact that he had a girlfriend and his two friends didn't in their face. In doing that he just made them act out worse in regards to the other girls that lived in the town. During those three days, Ayame had to kick Matsuda and Motohama's arses three different times, once per day in fact, and she wasn't the only girl to do such a thing as she had heard the Kendo Club had a go at them once during that time frame, and that the Student Council had been out for their blood for some reason or other.

When the day of the date finally came, Ayame was horrified to discover that her brother had left a full three hours prior to his date, and that he had not seen fit to inform her where the date would be occurring. Those two facts, combined with the fact that she hadn't anticipated his decision to leave so early, meant that she had overslept and missed her chance to have her familiar following him! "Dammit! If he gets himself killed, I'll never forgive him!"

"_**He'll be fine,"**_ a voice spoke into her mind. It was the voice of the dragon that resided within her Sacred Gear, Albion, the Vanishing Dragon. The fact that it had been Albion's power which had saved her life when she was but a year old was what allowed her to fully relax, as she knew the dragon had nothing but her best interests at heart, though she did wonder what made the dragon so confident in her brother's survival. "_**In all due time, Iris."**_

"Don't call me that!" Ayame shouted. She hated that name, even if 'Ayame' was simply the Japanese translation of the word. Iris was what the idiotic witches and wizards in Great Britain referred to her as and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with those people now that that damned tournament was over.

Knowing that it would be futile to try and track down her brother at this point, Ayame instead used a teleportation glyph to travel down to the Underworld to bug her King and said woman's husband.

* * *

While seeing her King was always a refreshing thing for Ayame, it was the joy of getting to look after little Milicas while his mother was busy performing the various assorted duties she was obligated to perform that truly made Ayame's time as Grayfia Lucifuge's Queen a blessing to the young woman. She knew just how overworked Grayfia was, as the woman was not just House Gremory's maid, but also her husband's Queen and Secretary all combined into one singular entity.

Ayame had been asked to become Grayfia's Queen when she was nine years old and attending lessons at Mahoutokoro's primary school. It had been a confusing request for her at the time, but now that she knew why it had been offered to her, she fully appreciated the protection being Grayfia's Queen had afforded her.

It had surprised Ayame when she first showed up at Kuoh Academy a few years ago, to discover that there were other Devils, one of which was the sister of Grayfia's husband, in attendance at the school. Although, seeing as how they have yet to confront her about being a devil, Ayame had to assume they had failed to recognize her without the maid outfit she wore while shadowing Grayfia when she was working at the Gremory estate. She never felt it necessary to ask Grayfia about their presence, as she assumed it wasn't an important matter for her to know about it when Grayfia failed to inform her about their presence after she decided to transfer from Mahoutokoro to Kuoh Academy for her high school education.

Within Kuoh in fact, Ayame was considered one of the Great Ladies of Kuoh Academy, right alongside of Rias Gremory and Akeno, though unlike the latter two, Ayame earned that distinction both by being incredibly attractive and by kicking the arse of her brother's two friends whenever she caught them in the act. Issei was usually immune to her wrath due to being largely harmless.

So it was after a long day playing with little Milicas that Ayame returned to her family's home. As soon as she entered the home however, Ayame froze as she could feel the presence of another Devil. It took her all of five seconds to track the energy signature to her brother's bedroom, and open the door enough to discover that 'yes, my brother really is a devil now.' As soon as she made that realization she exited the room and made her way over to her own room, while muttering, "I suspect this is the result of me having won our little bet, though I doubt he'll admit to such if I ask him."

Shaking her head in exasperation, Ayame decided to just wait and see how this played out. Worst case scenario, he wound up in Sona's Peerage.

* * *

It was a few days later that Ayame entered the classroom that she shared with her brother and his two perverted friends as well as several others, and noted that he still had yet to adjust to the changes that his body had undergone. It was abundantly clear that whoever had reincarnated him as a Devil had not bothered to help him with the transition like they should have.

'_I suppose I won't be thanking whichever Princess it was that saved his life. Not if this is how they plan on handling their responsibilities,'_ Ayame thought to herself, while taking her seat and pointedly ignoring the fact that Matsuda and Motohama were literally begging her to kick their arses again.

Or she ignored them until Motohama exclaimed, "There is no way that you, the manifestation of all sexual desires, would fall sick!"

Slowly turning around, Ayame glared at the pervert in question and asked him, "Did you just imply that my brother managed to contract an STD, before either of you numbskulls succeeded in getting yourselves infected with the same?"

Issei began losing color in his face, as he now realized that a spear through the stomach was a far more pleasant death than what could have happened if he had been able to get what at the time, had been his wish for the end of that date. "Yeah, I don't think I want to hang out with you two anymore."

With that, Issei stood up and relocated his belongings to the desk that was next to his sister's. It was a seat that had been left open for him at Ayame's request for about as long as boys had been attending Kuoh, just in case her brother thought better of his current seat. "Good choice, bro!"

"Aww, what the hell, man?"

"You're giving up on the harem plan?!"

"Answer that question and you can return to the seat you started in, Ise-kun," Ayame remarked in a saccharine tone of voice that she had no real way of knowing was hauntingly similar to the one belonging to a certain pink toad.

Issei hesitated a moment, before asking her something that had been bugging him, "Aya-chan, do you remember Yuuma-chan?"

Ayame opened her mouth to respond, before immediately snapping it shut. Of course she remembered 'Yuuma-chan', but that wasn't really what he was asking. He was asking why no one else remembered Yuuma. After a moment's hesitation, Ayame responded with the words, "I've never been introduced to someone who would answer to that name."

She saw the horrified expression that appeared on Issei's face and added, "Issei, think about what I just said for a little while. It may mean more to you if you do."

* * *

Later that night, mostly because she was still frustrated at the fact that someone had seen fit to erase Yuuma's existence from the memories of the entire town's population, Ayame had decided to take a walk. It was during this walk that she encountered a scantily clad woman with electric blue hair, "This is rare. To meet someone like you, in a place like this…"

Ayame frowned at the woman. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you weren't sent here by Dumbledore or Mouldyshorts. So who sent you and how would I go about delivering your remains to them once I remove your head from your shoulders?"

"You can try you pathetic little Devil, but…."

"**DIVIDE!"** Albion roared as the White Dragon Emperor's wings materialized on her back and forcibly reduced this woman's already pitiful strength even further.

The woman blinked at this before exclaiming, "Oh, fuck no!" and flapping the previously concealed blackened angel wings on her back and trying, emphasis on 'try', to fly away.

Ayame sighed before flapping Albion's wings and instantly catching up to the woman, grabbing her and hurling her to the ground and flying down to the ground in time with her body, where upon she axe kicked the woman in the throat, snapping it in half. "What a waste of time."

* * *

Not far from where Ayame had just killed one Fallen Angel, another sat on a roof with a pair of binoculars, "Well shite, that wasn't part of the plan!"

This fallen was a blonde girl with a rather odd sense in fashion, or at least it would be considered odd when one considers the fact that despite looking about 10 or 12 years old, she was in reality nearly as old as the human species. She, along with the Fallen that Ayame had just killed, and two others, had been sent to this town in order to keep an eye on the Sacred Gear within Ayame's brother and prevent it from awakening. They hadn't been told that Ayame had a Sacred Gear of her own, even though they had been informed of the fact that she might be a Devil herself.

Naturally, the leader of this mission, a Fallen known as Raynare, had an ulterior motive and had decided that Issei was too great a risk to her own plans, so she had shifted their goals in regards to him from an observation mission, to an eradication task. The end results of their initial attempt at that had been one where he was still alive even after getting a Light Spear through the stomach, and therefore was considered an even greater risk to Raynare's long term plans.

They still had no idea what Sacred Gear Ayame's brother possessed, but… "That… that was Divine Dividing, fuck! We are so out of our depth!" The fact that Ayame was flying at speeds fast enough to be imperceptible to the naked eye proved that fact. Once she was certain that Ayame had not detected her presence, the fallen quickly left to report her discovery and the death of their comrade.

* * *

"Miki, is Ise still in his room?" Ayame's father seemingly bellowed at the top of his lungs, instantly rousing the poor girl from her slumber.

'_Wut…?'_

"Gorou, his shoes are in the entrance so he came home. Geez! Staying out so late and without word on where he was going! On top of that he's going to be late for school! That, I won't forgive!"

Ayame quickly looked at her alarm clock, which was a much more sensible alarm clock than the one which Issei had in his room, and frowned, '_While I admittedly overslept again, there is no way we'd be late if we got up now…'_

Putting thoughts into action, Ayame began moving about her room getting together the things she'd need for a quick shower. Actual baths were more of a luxury she would enjoy right before going to bed, which wasn't that unusual in Japan. While gathering what she needed, she overheard the following:

"Wait! I'm already awake, I'll get up now!"

"Geez! I won't forgive you any more! We need to have a little talk about your behavior!"

Several seconds of silence passed after a bit of stomping on her mother's end, before her mother yelled out, "... GET READY QUICKLY!"

There was a loud slam as Ise's door was forcibly closed, and her mother all but cooed out "Ooooh! Otou-san!"

By this point Ayame had all but forgotten the shower, staring in shock at the door, as she tried to process what her brother might have done to get these sorts of reactions. She kept drawing a blank though, or at least she was until she heard her mother exclaim "Seeeee, Seeeex! Ise- did… With a foreigner!"

Grabbing her bathrobe and pulling it on around her, making sure it concealed everything before leaving her room, Ayame thundered down the hall as she made her way to the pervert's room. Slamming the door open, she took one look inside the room, saw that there was indeed a half-naked girl in the room. She only halted herself from hexing either of them when she noticed that the girl had blood red hair, and thus was Rias Gremory, the little sister to her King's husband. "Three…"

Issei gulped and immediately grabbed the nearest pair of boxer shorts before moving past Ayame to head off into the bathing room for this floor. Once they both heard the shower click on, Rias all but demanded "Who's your King?"

"You have no right to ask me that question. Not after the stunt you've been pulling with my brother over the course of this past week. If you truly wish to know who my King is, you'll have to wait until my King sees fit to introduce their full Peerage to you!" Ayame declared. "Now I believe you've made enough of a spectacle for one morning, I demand you leave… Don't worry, I'll make certain my brother visits your little clubhouse at the end of the day."

"Fine," Rias curtly replied. She didn't want to push matters, as even she knew she had dropped the ball on things by not introducing herself to Issei properly.

Once Rias had collected her clothes, and departed by way of teleportation circle, Ayame went down to the dining room, sat down and said, "Okaasan, Otousan, that girl was actually Grayfia-sama's sister-in-law, and…"

"Didn't you say her family are Naturists?" her father inquired in a kind tone of voice.

"Er...," Ayame hesitated hadn't been she had said at all. She had admitted that Sirzechs was rather eccentric, and judging by what happened this morning it wasn't hard to see that Rias was too. After a moment she decided, "What Rias-sama did this morning was not something I was expecting. Nor do I honestly believe that they actually had sex as Okaasan thought to be the case. Rias wouldn't have allowed that to happen given what I know of her, and Issei isn't the sort of person to force himself on a girl, even if his two numbskull friends would do just that if given the opportunity."

"He does seem to be absolutely skittish around women lately; I wonder why that is?" her mother inquired.

"I don't actually know what happened, but from what I gathered, Rias-sama saved his life from someone that was trying to hurt him. My guess was that it was that 'Yuuma' girl he's been asking about lately," Ayame informed her parents.

Ayame noticed right then and there, that her mother seemed to remember 'Yuuma' as her eyes had narrowed very slightly at the mention of the name. This was evidence towards the notion that whatever the Fallen did to erase everyone's memories, had been targeted towards those who the witches and wizards of Great Britain would refer to as 'Muggles', and thus had no effect on Hyoudou Miki. The woman was what Wizarding Britain referred to as a 'Squib,' and was in reality Ayame's paternal 1st Cousin, Once Removed, making Issei her paternal Second Cousin.

Issei didn't actually know they weren't brother and sister though, and none of the other members of his family wanted to tell him that. Ayame had been informed of such when she first started attending Mahoutokoro, and then rudely reminded of the matter when forced to participate in that demented tournament two years ago. About the only thing good to come out of that, was that she had met Luna Lovegood and become great friends with the girl; so much so in fact, that Luna had become Ayame's Contract Magician, which was really the only contract Ayame was currently responsible for overseeing.

Once her parents had the facts explained to them well enough, Ayame returned upstairs to await her turn in the shower. This was in her opinion a better solution to the entire encounter than what Rias would likely have done if left to her own devices. Messing with people's minds was just never a good long term solution.

**xXx Chapter Concluded xXx**

**Author's Note:** This story is written as a response to Whitetigerwolf's Devil Sibling's challenge, with the only change to that challenge I made being that Ayame is fully aware that her brother is a Devil right from the start. She will not however, be aware of what else he might happen to be, at least not immediately. Issei will however, be utterly clueless about his sister for a good long while, because let's face it, Rias likes keeping secrets as much as Dumbledore.

It should also be obvious that Ayame doesn't particularly like Rias, and anyone who has followed the series and understands what it means that Ayame can fly faster than the eye can perceive, would probably understand why she isn't fond of Rias.


	2. Life 2: Family Feud

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

**xXx Family Feud xXx  
xXx Life.2: Boot to the Head xXx**

* * *

If Ayame had known that her brother would be upset with her for sending Rias away the way that she had… well she'd still have done it anyways. For one thing, Rias was already engaged to be married, so she really should have had tasked her Queen with healing any injuries Issei suffered, if that was what was the cause of them being found in the same bed together with no clothes on.

She had fully intended to forget her promise to deliver her brother to Rias' clubhouse after the meeting, but it would appear that for once, Rias had made a rational decision. The door to their classroom opened and the two forsaken perverts loudly exclaimed "GO AWAY!" and "DIE PRETTY BOY!"

The boy in question was one who Ayame had no problem finding unattractive, as he looked remarkably similar to a certain blonde ferret she had met two years ago and who was apparently also one of her paternal relatives. At about the same moment the actual Class Rep for their room, one Hanaki Momo, stood up and said, "Hyoudou-san… oh um… right, Ayame-san, if you could please accompany me, I've been asked to show you to the Student Council room…"

"While I…" the blonde boy spoke up, "Have been asked to escort Hyoudou Issei to meet with my club president."

"Aya-chan?" Issei wondered if she knew what was going on.

Sighing Ayame said, "You should go with him, Ise-kun. You'll be happy with the results, I'm sure."

With that encouragement, Issei quickly collected his things and followed Kiba Yuuto from the room. Ayame on the other hand, took her time collecting her belongings. She had little interest in meeting Sona Sitri or her Peerage, not after spending the past five years sitting in the same classroom as one or another of her Peerage members. Fortunately, Momo didn't seem interested in rushing her.

* * *

Almost as soon as they entered the student council room, Ayame had to purposefully bite her tongue so as to control Albion's instinctual desire to maul any dragon in his territory that is fundamentally weaker than himself, which is to say, all other dragons save for three. That didn't stop her from saying, "Turn off the dragonic aura and live to see another day, you pathetic weakling."

"Saji, do as the lady asks," Sona Sitri remarked, not having actually noticed what her newest Peerage member had decided to do with the briefing she had given her Peerage at the start of the day.

A moment later, Ayame breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you. Now, why have you called me here?"

"Two reasons: first, I would like to inquire of you, do you play chess?" Sona spoke up, even as Ayame noticed the fully prepared set of chessmen in front of the Student Council President.

"I'm sorry, but are you really planning to challenge me to a game of chess after the numerous requests I made to your predecessor to have a chess club started up? I know you were on the Student Council last year so you've no doubt heard about the requests…"

"Tsubaki-san please do me the favor of locating the most recent of those requests," Sona ordered. She had no wish to be responsible for denying someone their preferred form of extracurricular activity, especially when the girl in question was as dangerous as Ayame could potentially be. As Tsubaki moved off to the filing cabinets to perform that task, Sona refocused and said, "My apologies, I was largely unaware that had happened. I'd like to blame my sister, but I doubt that is the case."

Ayame nodded, and sat down opposite from Sona, "In any case, I'm more accustomed to an assortment of chess variants that you're unlikely to have the necessary boards for, and I don't have easy access to them either. Now what was the real reason you called me here?"

"To ask that you not be so careless as to leave the corpses of your enemies where mundane people could happen upon them. Had I not had my familiar tracing you to begin with, we'd all be in a lot of trouble, Miss Vanishing Dragon."

Ayame could appreciate that reasoning, as it was rational enough. She had sadly, been rather tired when the fight took place to begin with, and wasn't making logical decisions. If she had been, she wouldn't have revealed her status as the White Dragon Empress last night to anyone who cared to take notice of it. However one thing was bothering Ayame about Sona's declaration, "Why was your familiar following me?"

Sona scowled, "Rias was planning to add your brother to her Peerage, I had thought to add you to my own, as I had managed to notice that you have considerably more power than your brother does. I now understand why that is."

"You… you would have attempted to add me to your peerage, without asking me if I wanted to be a member of it to begin with?" Ayame demanded in a voice as cold as Albion's scales were white.

"The only situation in which I would consider such behavior acceptable, is if you were in danger of dying. I do not use Evil Pieces on those who have already died, as that can have unforeseen consequences."

"Good answer," Ayame admitted, "But even then, I was already a member of someone else's Peerage during the orientation speech during my first year attending Kuoh Academy."

"Even if that hadn't been true, I would have been incapable of adding you to my Peerage. I simply don't have the necessary pieces to equate to your Sacred Gear anymore," Sona admitted with a sigh.

"What, but…" Saji spoke up trying to deny that declaration.

"My sacred gear alone was worth at least six pawns. Meanwhile, on my own I'm worth somewhere between two and four pawns. In other words, the only reason I was able to be Reincarnated as a Devil, is because my King had a Mutation Queen."

Everyone's jaw hit the floor except for Sona's as was now smiling in an uncharacteristic manner, "I do believe that we will be great friends, Ayame-san. However, I doubt the same will hold true with Rias once she figures out who your King happens to be."

Ayame scowled, "Rias only just today noticed I exist for the first time. Do you have any idea how infuriating it is to have been in the same room as that girl on a regular basis and to never be noticed by her until the day I'm forced to kick her out of my family's home after catching her encouraging my brother's perverted antics?!"

Momo frowned as she had been very happy the day Issei decided to part ways with Matsuda and Motohama, this information made it sound like… "Crap! Kaichou I'm going to have to excuse myself."

* * *

At about the same time, a white haired first year was walking up to the building in which the Occult Research Club met. She was usually the first to arrive, but had Kiyome-senpai had asked for her assistance with something, so she naturally agreed to render whatever aid she could.

That was what allowed the white haired girl to notice that two vaguely familiar looking boys were trying to pry the lock off of the room that housed the most fragile of Rias-senpai's peerage members. The locks had been placed by Rias' brother and were keyed to Rias, so only Rias or member of her immediate family could open the locks. Which meant that the white haired girl could easily ignore the attempts to open that door.

She however froze mid-step on her path to the stairs leading to the meeting room due to having heard one of the boys exclaim, "S and M treasure house, here we come!"

Knowing what it was these morons thought was inside that room caused the white haired girl to want to hurt them, which was why she turned around and began walking in their direction. She didn't make any noise that would reveal her presence this entire time, so they completely failed to notice her until her fist connected with one of their faces, sending the moron flying through the air and away from the door.

Before his friend could properly react, she slammed a foot into the glasses he had on his face, instantly shattering the lenses. She did not care one bit that she had likely just permanently blinded the asshole, because this girl absolutely loathed people who were perverted simply for the sake of being perverted.

"Shiro-chan!" a shocked voice exclaimed from the door behind her.

Toujou Koneko winced as she heard that affectionate. Only one person had ever used that affectionate for her, and it was that same realization that informed her she would definitely wind up being punished for what had just transpired. Slowly turning around, she found that would definitely be the case, as the girl in question had been accompanied by three members of the Student Council, two of whom were the highest ranking members thereof, "I can explain, Ayame-onee-san…"

Ayame rolled her eyes while exclaiming, "Is your foot alright? You smashed it into all that awful glass, after all!"

"I… um…"

"Sona, you aren't planning on punishing her for hurting those two numbskulls, are you?" Ayame inquired.

Sona had actually begun casting detection spells on the frames of the glasses that boy had been wearing after removing them from his eyes. "Punish her? I think we should all be thanking her. This moron had enchanted eyewear that probably did exactly what he claims it did."

"Well done, Shiro-chan, now go enjoy the cakes that I'm positive Ake-san set out for you."

"Kay," Koneko agreed as she dashed up the stairs to join the rest of her Peerage.

"Sona, I'd like it if you would do me the favor of making certain that Motohama is expelled for having such an infuriating artefact in his possession."

Sona nodded her head in agreement. She had been trying to find a way to get both of these boys expelled without also catching Ayame's brother in the crossfire. The fact that Issei was now a member of Rias peerage, meant she would be responsible for keeping him from implicating himself when the police, or Aurors in this case, got called in. While devils were known to grant people the ability to use magic, they never bestowed them with artefacts, at least not unless they were Stray Devils.

"Momo, Tsubaki, please see to it that these two capable of answering questions posed to them by the Headmaster when we bring them before him in an hours time. I'll be requesting Lord Gremory's attendance in the meantime."

Ayame would actually have chosen to invite Lady Gremory, but knew that it would be much more fruitful for their budding friendship if Sona realized that was the more logical choice for herself. "In any case, I'll see you girls later, I'm going to go and continue hunting down the Fallen infestation."

Momo waved goodbye, even as Tsubaki began questioning Sona on just what method of healing she expected them to use for Motohama's eyes.

* * *

At about the same time that Koneko had entered the building, Rias Gremory had been in the midst of showering when she heard her most timid Peerage member speak to her over their one way communication link, "Rias-senpai, two boys are trying to break into my room… they are saying weird things too."

Rias frowned at that statement. She had to assume them to be the other two members of the infamous pervert trio, but why they were in her clubhouse right now… unless they followed Yuuto and Ise here. "I'll send someone down to sca…"

"Oh, um Koneko just… O-ouch! That must have hurt."

That exclamation was accompanied by two loud crashes being made from the floor below. Realizing that she had to make Issei stay put, Rias stepped out of the shower stall with her outfit not quite in proper working order. Her knight noticed the state of her attire and promptly looked away while blushing furiously. Yuuto had come to view Rias more as an older sister figure than as a romantic interest, so his reaction was understandable.

"Ara ara," Akeno muttered as she too saw the state of Rias' outfit, blushed but unlike Kiba, didn't dare look away. "Dare I ask if this is to be the new dress code for our club meetings?"

That question alone was enough to drag Issei's attention back to Rias from what he had been about to do, which was to dash down the stairs in a blind effort to save whoever it was getting their arses beaten. Rias pointed at the seat he had vacated while advising him to, "Sit and stay awhile, would you."

Issei nodded his head in agreement, even as they heard a conversation being carried out on the floor below. It was thanks mostly due to the muffling wards in the floor to prevent conversations in this room from being overheard that they failed to make out anything distinct. Although, Rias was getting a play-by-play account via the enchanted earrings she wore to connect her to her Bishop. He was in fact her last line of defense in case of an attempt to kidnap her, as he could actually leave his room any time he wanted to do so, even if no one could get in and bother him.

The instant she heard that Ayame used the affectionate of 'Shiro-chan' when speaking to Koneko, she felt as though she had been slapped across the face with a cinderblock. Her expression must have shown that, as Issei looked like he was about ready to flee the room. The panic she was seeing in him was evidence that Ayame had been in the right to be angry at her. "I'm not actually angry at you, Ise-kun…"

It was at this moment that the door to the room was pushed open rather forcefully, allowing a young girl who Issei would have considered a primary school student, if he didn't already know better. In fact, Ayame had pointedly warned him to run for the hills the instant this girl entered his field of vision. The fact she was here, now, meant he should probably…

"Why do you never use Aya-nee's nickname for me, Buchou?" the girl wondered.

"W-wha-?" Issei stuttered out, not having expected that question to crop up.

"Because, Shiro-chan, even I can make mistakes," Rias admitted with a sad smile on her face, "Something that Ayame seems to like pointing out at every available opportunity. I hadn't honestly realized that Issei's sister was our Aya until I heard her use that affectionate for you."

"Can someone tell me what's going on, please?"

"Well to begin with, please look at this photograph, for me…" and with those words, Issei found himself thrown down a rabbit hole with no hope of ever returning to the nice quiet perverted life he had long enjoyed.

"That's…"

"Amano Yuuma, yes…"

"How do you have that when not even Ayame-chan could remember, her!"

Rias tilted her head to the side, as she asked, "How did Ayame respond when you asked if she remembered Amano's existence?"

"She said I never intro…" Issei froze half-way through that response. She hadn't actually said he never introduced her to Yuuma, rather that she had never been introduced to someone who would answer to that name. Which meant… "Explain why I suddenly feel an overwhelming desire to tear a bird's wings off of it, and how that relates to the girl in this picture?"

"I um… well, she's a Fallen Angel," Rias admitted.

"And was it you or this fallen angel that removed knowledge of her existence from everyone's minds?"

Koneko noticed the effect that he was having on the other two girls, as it was beginning to effect her too. Which was why she stood up, walked over to him, and slammed her foot into his shin, causing him to yelp in surprise, before looking at her questioningly, "Calm down, onii-kun."

"I… I what?" Issei stuttered in confusion.

"I said 'calm down, onii-kun,'" Koneko retorted in a completely deadpan tone of voice, before returning to her seat.

"Ara ara," Akeno muttered as she brought her breathing back under control while simultaneously shifting in her seat enough to hide the fact that she had been quite a bit more affected by that display of dominance than she was ready to admit. "Rias, what piece did you say it was you had to use to grant Issei a new lease on life?"

"I didn't because it would have caused you to laugh at me," Rias admitted, "But I don't see a way of avoiding it now. I used pawns…"

"Pawns… plural?" Kiba asked in a tone of awe. Not even he had managed to avoid being affected by the dominating presence Issei had just been exuding.

"Not just plural, Kiba, as in all eight pawns." Rias admitted.

Issei was a lot smarter than he usually allowed people to realize. In fact his sister was the only one who really knew how smart he actually was, because he was the only person who regularly provided her with a challenge in the very game they were now discussing. The only thing about their discussion he hadn't managed to figure out simply by hearing the conversation, was god died and decided that… "FUUUU!"

* * *

Ayame blinked as her phone began vibrating. She pulled it out, and checked to see who it was calling her. She didn't recognize the number, but that didn't necessarily mean the person calling her was unknown to her. Flipping the thing open, she used her best approximation of Aerith Gainsborough's voice while exclaiming "Moshi, Moshi?"

"Um…" an unfamiliar voice to Ayame stuttered, "Is, is this Iris Potter?"

Ayame frowned. The person speaking to her was using English, meaning that she might not have understood the initial greeting. The fact that she sounded timid, meant that she was willing to hear the girl out. "Yes, although I prefer to be called Ayame. Now what can I do for you?"

"Um… My cousin Luna, she told me to contact you if I ever found myself being sent to Kuoh Town by Our Div…"

"Can I assume you are still at the airport?"

"Uh, yes?" the girl questioned. "At least I think it's the airport."

"You were raised inside the walls of a convent, weren't you?" Ayame inquired.

"I… well yes. Luna visited often, but I wasn't really allowed to leave until I was told to come here," the girl acknowledged.

"Hopefully I can find you before anyone with less than honest intentions finds you."

"Thank you!" the girl exclaimed.

Ayame then had the girl describe her current surroundings to her, which would hopefully help her in locating her favorite Witch's cousin. Once the girl had thanking her profusely, she hung up the phone. Ayame didn't feel like letting the Fallen get their hands on this girl, so she immediately exclaimed "Balance Break!"

**xXx VANISHING DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER! xXx**

**Author's Note:** Ayame is technically a High-Class Devil in terms of political rank, and an Ultimate-class in terms of just how much raw firepower she has at her disposal. You can pretty much forget any silly ideas that Raynare will survive.

Unfortunately, I got distracted by another idea, so won't be continuing this one.


	3. Life 3: Amor Est Vitae Essentia

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

**xXx Amor Est Vitae Essentia xXx**

**xXx Ch. 01: A Brave New World xXx**

* * *

Centuries ago, the deity that Canaanite and Levantine societies knew only as 'El' created a system which would allow humans to enact miracles without needing to call upon the assistance of potentially hostile supernatural forces. Unfortunately, that didn't stop humans from seeking out such assistance, and up until recently the cost for such assistance was far too steep to make such a boon worthwhile.

* * *

The Dark Lord styling himself as 'Voldemort' sneered at the idiotic redhead who had defied the gracious offer he had given her. He would have allowed her to live, or near enough at any rate, if she had simply stood aside. But no, she had to stand in front of the boy that prophecy said had the power to defeat him and shield the boy with her body.

In any event, now that she was dead he could focus on the real target. Raising his wand he aimed it straight at the boy's forehead and spoke the incantation of a spell that would always kill whatever it hit. As soon as the final syllable was pronounced a bolt of vibrant green energy launched itself from his wand on a direct collision course for the child's forehead… only to collide with a wall of shadows that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. "Wha-?!"

That was as far as Voldemort could get because the green bolt of energy had just bounced right back out of the shadow and struck him in the stomach. Unfortunately, Voldemort had acquired some of the aforementioned assistance, which meant that this didn't actually succeed in killing him. What it did do was to reduce his body to ash and force his spirit to vacate the premises, but not before a small fragment of his soul latched itself onto the body of the boy, creating an additional anchor to the mortal world against the Dark Lord's will.

* * *

About seven years from that date, the young boy performed another miracle. This one however wasn't viewed as a miracle as it resulted in three other boys being hospitalized even if it was they were the ones who had been hurting the boy to start with. Unfortunately for the Dursley family of Little Whinging, no one believed them when they said their nice polite nephew was the cause of their son being hospitalized, not even the parents of the other injured children.

This was what led Petunia Dursley to realize that the only way to achieve safety for her family, was to take the boy to a place that even magic would have a hard time locating him. With her decision made, Petunia told him that they were going for a vacation.

* * *

Petunia actually pretended the trip to Tokyo was a proper vacation for both herself and young Harry Potter for about a week before deciding that enough time had passed for her to make the return trip without the boy in her company. And she even succeeded in making it all the way back to Great Britain before someone realized what she had done, but by that point it was already much too late to locate Harry.

It was too late because Harry had discovered he could step into one shadow, and exit another one that is up to sixteen miles from his starting point. This allowed him to travel in a way that would be all but impossible to track, and Harry really didn't want to go back to the family his mere presence seemed to hurt.

* * *

Almost two days after he was abandoned in Tokyo, young Harry Potter came across a scene that made him incredibly angry. In front of him a group of men had surrounded a young girl who couldn't be any older than he was himself. Each of these men had an improvised weapon of one sort or another, and the girl was clearly too exhausted to see straight.

"'Cry havoc!,' and let slip the dogs of war." Harry whispered at the same time as low growls started to be heard from the surrounding area. When he saw the vaguely lupinoid form that one of the nearby shadows had assumed, he realized the quote was appropriate even if he hadn't knowingly picked it for this effect.

Several of the men must have either heard Harry himself, or else the growling, as they turned and took stock of their new opposition, and several of them cried out the word "Akuma!"

Harry then had to watch a confusing battle where the human combatants consciously ignored their weapons in favor of some sort of pamphlet that they were pulling from small pouches on their hips or inside their sleeves. Whatever these pamphlets usually did, it wasn't working on Harry's shadow wolves as the men wound up just as dead as anyone would when their jugulars were ripped open.

Once the last idiot had died, Harry cautiously walked over to the girl and said, "Um… sorry about the mess?"

"Eigo?" the girl muttered before switching to English and asking, "Why did you save me?"

"Aren't you a damsel in distress?" Harry wondered.

"I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice…" the girl never finished the quote due to the fact that she had fainted from exhaustion.

"Of course you can," Harry snickered as he pulled her unconscious form into a hug and then pulled them both through a shadow.

* * *

When she woke up from what she assumed to be a short nap, Himejima Akeno discovered that she was laying on a bed of straw that was probably located in one of the surprisingly large number of livestock farms in Japan, or else the boy she vaguely remembered rescuing her had the ability to cross the ocean. A boy who, at least judging by the cute snoring coming from just beyond a nearby hill of hay, was still asleep.

Akeno sighed at that and decided that if he wanted to play the gallant hero, the least she could do is humour him. At least this way she'd have help if she encountered her father before she was ready to face him. Still, there was something about what this boy had done to save her that was unsettling to Akeno, and it had nothing at all to do with the deaths of her relatives.

Her rescuer woke from his slumber about an hour later, and the first thing he did was say, "Can you translate my offer to cook the owners of this farm some breakfast in exchange for whatever they don't eat?"

Akeno nodded her agreement, while also asking, "I can, but can't we simply find a homeless shelter and…"

"All that will do is get both of us sent back to our respective relatives. So if it's all the same to you, I'd rather avoid such places."

"Then we offer to cleanse their home of evil spirits…" Akeno started to say.

"Magic's not real…" Harry countered.

"And what was it you did last night, if not magic?" Akeno inquired with a knowing smirk. When she saw him floundering for an explanation, she continued, "Now as I was saying…"

* * *

Neither Akeno nor Harry would remember the specific day on which they met, so they instead picked a day that was as close as their best guess to that date and went out to eat in order to celebrate the anniversary of their meeting.

As they were eating, Harry said, "Akeno-chan, we're best friends right?"

"Yep!" Akeno agreed. "Best friends forever and ever."

"On my magic, I swear to defend you against any who would seek to do you harm." Harry spoke words solemnly.

Akeno's eyes widened in surprise, before she reciprocated, "And on my magic, I swear that even death will die if it ever takes you from me!"

Both smiled when they felt their magic thrum in approval of the vow, completely unaware of what chaos they had just unleashed back in Great Britain. Not that either one of them would actually care if they did know.

* * *

For the next two years life was relatively quiet for Harry and Akeno, they simply continued performing the incredibly fake exorcisms that won them their income. However that all changed when they stepped out of a shadow in time to see a man with black feathered wings throwing a spear made of solidified light at someone who was running away from what had to be a Fallen Angel as though his life depended on it, which it clearly did.

Harry raised a hand and caused a shadowy wall to materialize between the victim and the spear, shadows which the spear seemed to fall into as easily as Harry would walk through the substance. Akeno for her part created a ball of electricity in her hands before hurling the ball of plasma straight at the Fallen.

The only thing Akeno accomplished with that attack, was to stun the Fallen long enough for Harry to say "Reflect."

This caused Akeno to whip her head around in time to witness the Fallen's Spear of Light perform a 'return to sender' maneuver. She followed the spear's flight path and sure enough it pierced the Fallen in the stomach.

The fallen fell to the ground, and bit out the words, "You'd protect that scum…?"

Akeno's eyes widened in shock as she realized that they had just protected someone contracted to a Devil, which meant that Devil was likely already in route, "Harry we have to run…"

"Stay and we may die." Harry started quoting.

"I hate it when you use foreign pop culture references, Harry. It makes countering them hard." Akeno groaned.

"That one is from a movie about the most famous Scotsmen in history…"

"Unless you're referring to Montgomery Scott, I doubt it," an unfamiliar feminine voice spoke up. The voice had come from the same direction as the man Harry and Akeno had just saved, which caused Harry to turn and regard the speaker and notice that the man had been replaced by a young girl.

This girl had long blood red hair and seafoam green eyes. She was also dressed in what had to be a nightgown, indicating she had left her home quite hastily just to get this location. Placing a hand on her hip, the girl asked, "I'm not in the habit of killing people who I'd rather be friends with. On the other hand, dead bodies aren't something I want being discovered in my family's territory either, so I'll go ahead and dispose of this Fallen's corpse for you."

"Harry can I speak to you for a minute?" Akeno requested.

Harry nodded his head and walked over to her, "What's up?"

"Harry, my father was a Fallen Angel, and this girl is a Devil, in fact she's from a very easy to recognize family of dev… make that two families of devils…" Akeno's explanation got derailed as she witnessed the girl with the physical characteristics of a Gremory using the signature power of the House of Bael.

Whatever Akeno was expecting Harry to do with that knowledge, it was not to have him say, "Oi, Red. I don't care what your superpower does. If you hurt my girlfriend because her father fell so deeply in love with her mother that they had to kick him out of heaven, I'll kick your arse in equal measure."

Rias Gremory slowly turned to regard the couple, "As I said, I'd prefer to be your friend rather than your enemy, and if you'd let me I'd like to offer you two a place in my Peerage."

"Your what?" Harry asked in utter bafflement

"I'm offering to make you both members of my family, my sister and brother if you prefer. Given who my brother is, no one would complain." Rias admitted in both a shy and placating manner. "You'd also be the first members of my Peerage."

Harry looked at Akeno, "What do you think?"

When she failed to answer, Harry sighed and began jabbing his finger into the soft spot between two of her ribs quite hard repeatedly. It didn't take more than three of those jabs before she squealed and said, "Harry stop! You know that I'm…"

"Someone who has an unusual definition for the word 'Ticklish' and who also seems to enjoy being tickled, I know. Now, did you happen to hear anything Red just said to us?"

Akeno blinked at his question and said, "I stopped paying attention when you used the words 'father', 'love' and 'mother' in the same sentence when describing the Fallen I want to kill most of all."

Harry nodded in understanding, "Red just offered us a permanent home."

Akeno frowned and said, "I suppose we aren't really in a position to refuse such an offer, are we?"

At about the same moment a bright flare of magic appeared a few feet away from Rias and disgorged an attractive silver haired woman who yelled, "Rias Gremory, just what has gotten into you?!"

Rias turned around to regard the woman and said, "Gray-nee, I would like to introduce you to my new brother and sister, however I can't as they never introduced themselves to me."

"Himejima Akeno and Harry Potter at your service," Harry provided as both he and Akeno bowed. Not long after they met, Akeno had admitted she had no idea how to properly execute a curtsy as the practice was uncommon in Japan, though hardly unheard of.

The woman Rias identified as an elder sister simply stared at the three children for several seconds before saying, "I don't know whether to laugh at you or pity you, Ria-tan. Now, go ahead with the ritual so we can all go home and get some sleep."

It took about ten minutes for Rias to do as she was directed, and once she had, Grayfia Lucifuge activated an interdimensional teleportation glyph to take all four of them to the Underworld.

**xXx Chapter End xXx**

**Author's Note:** The intention with this fic would have been to have Harry replace Gasper. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get past the half-way point on the second chapter. I did want to post this chapter because I wanted to show that a Sacred Gear that is not a Longinus can be used to explain Harry's survival of the Killing Curse, and can also still be quite bad arse later on. This particular Sacred Gear is Night Reflection, which is the same one that Connla of the Hero Faction possesses, though I would have been using a different Balance Breaker for Harry than Connla possesses.


	4. Life 4: Witch of Annihilation

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

**xXx Emerald-Eyed Witch of Annihilation xXx  
xXx Ch. 01: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night xXx**

* * *

A girl with unnatural blood-red bangs, and jet black roots slowly lowered her arms after having instinctively fired a blast of highly corrosive energy at the monster who had been trying to kill her since she was just over a year old. This energy had blown a hole clear through both her target and the wall of earth he had erected as a defense against her Incendio Tria spell.

The fact that the wall of earth was a physical barrier and not a magical one, meant that she had just hit him with something that surpassed the Killing Curse in terms of how unstoppable it wound up being. The shock on her face was put into words when one of her best friends muttered, "Well damn."

Before anyone else could react however, a low chuckle was heard and a masculine voice spoke the words, "Looks like Grayfia owes me a dinner date, she was certain you'd take more after her and not me."

The sorta-redhead twisted around to look at the person who had just spoken, and was struck speechless by what she saw. He had one complete head of blood-red hair, while his eyes were more of a seafoam green than her own emerald color, however aside from those differences, the resemblance between the two of them was close enough that he could be her father or older brother, with his words implying the former.

And that's when certain people decided to once again become a pain in Amaryllis 'Call me Amy' Potter's rear end. The shrill voice of Molly Weasley bellowed out the words, "And just who the devil are you supposed to be?"

"I'm sorry, but was that a trick question?" the man who might be related to Amaryllis inquired as he gave Molly a confused look. This caused Fleur and Bill Weasley to perform simultaneous facepalms.

Hermione Granger, the friend who spoke earlier, walked over to Amy and whispered into her ear, and waited for a firm nod, before speaking in as loud a voice as she could without a Sonorus Charm, "_Our Father which art in Heaven…"_

That was as far as she needed to go to see the death glare the redheaded gentleman was now shooting her. A glare that was returned by a well placed Glacius Virilis hex cast by Amy's other best friend, Daphne Greengrass. The agonized groan he emitted as he took a knee made all three young women smirk in satisfaction… right up until they noticed that something very powerful had snuck up behind the three of them without giving any indication that it was there.

Being the Gryffindor of the bunch, Amy turned around and came face to face with a white haired maid, a maid who grabbed her and pulled her into the tightest and gentlest hug she could ever recall being the recipient of. This maid then started repeating the words 'I'm Sorry' over and over again.

"Right then," Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke up, having figured out these two individuals had an emotional connection to their messianic figure, and that it was more or less a family affair. "Let's just leave them be, this isn't our business."

"Of course it's our business!" Molly Weasley screeched out in protest, "They could be…"

As soon as William saw the redheaded gentleman shooting his mother an annoyed scowl, he hit the woman with a stunning charm and levitated her back into the remains of the Great Hall, with his siblings and wife following after him.

Aside from Daphne, Hermione, Amaryllis and the two unknown adults that were probably related to Amaryllis, the only other person to remain in the courtyard was Narcissa Malfoy, who seemed to want to say something, but kept hesitating. Daphne was the first to figure out how to speak again, "I'm sorry, but who are you two and what is your relationship to Amy?"

That question seemingly reconnected Narcissa's mouth with her brain "Allow me to introduce Sirzechs, the current Lucifer and his wife, Grayfia Lucifuge. Sirzechs has a history of asking favors of members of both House Potter and House Black, but I'm not entirely sure why they are behaving the way they are right this moment."

"Perhaps this would best be explained in a more comfortable setting?" Sirzechs suggested.

Daphne snorted, "Amy's temper is rather Vesuvian."

"I see, well at least she never disintegrated someone on acciden…" Sirzechs started to say, only to frown when he noticed that Daphne and Hermione were now giving him a very weird look.

"Accident implies a lack of premeditation," Hermione admitted.

"What surprised me about using the Destructo-Ray today, was that I had it modulated in such a way that it would only affect the wall of earth even if it hit mouldy-shorts." Amy admitted as she finally pulled away from Grayfia and looked at Sirzechs properly.

"I'm sorry, did you just say you have sufficient mastery over your Power of Destruction as to be able to have it distinguish between animate and inanimate targets?" Sirzechs inquired.

"Is that really what you call it?" Amy inquired in a confused tone of voice. When Sirzechs nodded his head, she continued, "And I inherited this from you?" Again he nodded his head, "So that would mean you and Grayfia are…"

"We are your parents by birth. We had asked James and his wife to look after you due to my political standing in the Underworld and the danger it would have placed you in…"

"What he's not saying, is that as soon as that prophecy was issued, we were unable to remove you from this country until you were no longer a participant in that prophecy."

"And can I ask why not?" Amy demanded. "The prophecy was incredibly…"

"It wasn't the prophecy that was responsible for stopping us from collecting you. Rather it was the fact that Albus Dumbledore was the last wielder of the Elder Wand and took mastery of it to his…"

Amy squawked, and then frantically ran over to where Voldemort's remains were still smoldering and began looking for something in a frantic manner.

"What got into her?" Grayfia inquired.

"She only just remembered that Draco disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him, and that she herself later disarmed Draco. Which means…"

"Well damn," Sirzechs groaned.

"AHA!" Amy exclaimed as she stood up from the she was doing with an oddly shaped wand in one hand. She then pulled something out of her pocket and with both that and the wand in hand, she walked over to where the others were, and dropped the objects on the ground in front of her. She then said, "Everyone get behind me and no matter what happens, stay there."

Sirzechs frowned but did as asked, but not without pointing out, "We've tried destroying the wand before, it doesn't work…"

Rather than answer him, Amy spoke two sentences in Latin that caused Sirzechs' face to go bone white, "Te nunc invoco, mortem. Te in mea potestate defixi." She completely ignored that, along with the ominous rumbling that accompanied her words as she continued the sentence "Nunc et in aeternum."

Seconds after the final word was spoken, a woman who looked like Amy's older identical twin sister appeared. The only difference being that this woman had six sets of feathered wings that seemed to have been crafted from Palladium. This woman frowned as soon as she appeared, and demanded, "Sirzechs, Grayfia which one of you was foolish enough to call me here?"

"She can't see me, can she?" Amy wondered as she stood there with a bemused expression on her face. When everyone nodded their heads she sighed, and said, "Right, so assuming she also can't hear me, someone inform my guest that I want her promise to continue honoring the agreement Ignotus made with her in regards to the owner of her cloak, but I could honestly care less what she does with her other two Hallows."

"Then nothing really changes…" the Angel started to say.

"Do I have to pick the other two Hallows up off the ground and hand them to you?" Amy inquired. "That would look a little odd from your perspective, what with you not being able to see me."

The angel frowned as she bent down and picked up the objects, "Just so we're clear, I'd have preferred an offering of queso, taquitos and tamales over these horrible trinkets. And on that note, never summon me again unless you want me to prove just how flimsy a defense that cloak actually is when exposed to the All-Revealing Light of Heaven."

With the threat delivered, the angel disappeared and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, with Daphne groaning out the words, "Death is not a nice…"

"Well did you expect her to be?" Hermione drawled. "Now are we done scaring the crap out of your newly discovered parents, Amy?"

"Er yeah… I think so," Amy agreed. She then turned to regard the adults, "Lady Malfoy, did Astoria manage to inform you and her boyfriend of the plans Daphne, Hermione and I had made regarding our futures?"

Narcissa nodded her head, "I'll assume with the arrival of your erstwhile parents, your plans went from a ghost in hell's chance of success to a near certainty."

The three seventeen/eighteen year old girls nodded their heads in agreement, and Daphne said, "Between Amy's public display of her Destructo-Beam, and our recent vigilante behavior, we really can't stay in this country. Just do me the favor of looking after my sister for me?"

"Of course. Now you three had best be off."

Nodding, the three girls walked over to where Sirzechs and Grayfia were standing, the latter of whom was facing away from them as she used magic to create a very large runic array of such complexity that Hermione couldn't even begin to analyze it. Sirzechs clapped his hands and pulled a box from out of nowhere that he handed to Amy. "We were going to wait and present you with these once we returned to the Underworld, but given that you want to bring two friends with us, it might be best if they were officially part of the family before we go."

Amy flipped open the lid of the box so as to inspect the contents. She proceeded to groan, "Chess Pieces?!"

"Evil Pieces, though they do admittedly look like chess men. They are the most effective way of propagating our species given that the fertility rate among devils is extremely low…"

"Amy, these things are designed to turn someone into a Devil, and I would bet that the specific pieces each provide different attributes, with the Queen being a Jack of All Stats."

"It's missing the King…" Amy remarked in a bemused tone of voice.

Sirzechs sighed and admitted that "The King Piece is banned from Rating Games, and as such is no longer included with newly crafted Evil Pieces. It has been replaced by a focusing gem that more fully links you to your Peerage once you place your finger on it, see here…"

Amy eyed the gem for a moment before doing just that, and feeling a wash of energy flow through her and then into the gem. She then picked up the Queen Piece and handed it to Daphne, "Maybe this will let you use your cages more frequently."

"Cages?" Sirzechs inquired.

"We still don't know how or why, but I can conjure cages crafted from thorns. Another weird thing is that battles always seem more favorable for whichever side of the conflict I'm on." Sirzechs' felt his eyes widening in surprise, this girl may actually have a Sacred Gear he had never heard of before, or it could also be one had already encountered, but which had developed a Sub-Species Balance Breaker that caused it to do things it ordinarily wouldn't do.

"How do I cause it to turn me into a devil?" Daphne wondered as she stared at the crimson chess piece as it sat on her palm.

"Hocus Pocus, you will now be a horny devil!" Amy exclaimed in as exaggerated a manner as she could, only to blink and blush in embarrassment when the chess piece decided that was a valid activation phrase.

"I am so not talking to you," Daphne ground out, "For at least a week."

"Right, like that threat has ever worked," Hermione retorted. "Let's see, hmm, I think I'll be your Rook."

Sirzechs nodded, "Strength and invulnerability…"

"Eh? Huh?" Hermione grunted, "But it's a tower…?"

"You are the one who has been given a mission. Under the contract, I release these powers unto you. Winds to the sky, stars to the heavens, and your unyielding soul as my heart! Magic to your hands! Demon Heart, Set Up!" Amy opted to activate Hermione's Evil Piece using an incantation that Grayfia instantly recognized, yet which Sirzechs remained blissfully ignorant too.

Hermione scowled at her best friend, but chose to remain silent when the embarrassing transformation sequence did not actually occur. "Right, now can we get a move on before the ginger ponce decides to come try and separate us again?"

Choosing to ignore that, Sirzechs waved at the completed runic array and said, "Please step onto the array and keep your extremities safely stowed until we arrive at our destination. This will likely be the most pleasant form of magical travel the three of you have ever experienced."

The girls rolled their eyes, and simultaneously decided not to bring up the fact that a large chunk of Amy's near death encounters were the result of one or another form of magical transportation doing something completely unexpected.

* * *

A highly uncomfortable Amy Potter was escorted into a ballroom by the man she now considered her father, though not her dad. She was uncomfortable because she was wearing a torture device in place of a dress. At least, that was how she would describe boned corsets from now on.

She was also uncomfortable because this ball was being held in honor of her return to the Underworld and yet she was the only member of her Peerage that had been invited, which her father had been most apologetic for, but as the ball was also when she was supposed to receive her evil pieces, it would have been awkward to allow people to realize she was given the pieces before they properly met her.

It turned out that she wasn't the only person who was uncomfortable, a redhead who seemed to be the same age as herself was sitting next to a much older blonde gentleman whose behavior towards the redhead caused Amy to ask her father who he was, and the answer that he gave her caused Amy to decide to make her 'Annihilatus Virilis' thought experiment a reality.

Sirzechs watched as a sadistic smirk developed on his daughter's face and decided to ignore it. Plausible deniability and all that. Sirzechs steeled himself for what the Vesuvius temper he had been warned about, and then nodded to the attendant, who spoke, "Presenting Marchioness Talis Gremory and her escort, Maou Sirzechs Lucifer."

Surprisingly Amy didn't react to being introduced using a name that she wasn't accustomed to, which indicated Grayfia had probably warned her, or else that Amy had suspected she'd have a different name her. He led her to the head table, where the Gremory family and certain select guests were seated, and was about to seat her when she pulled off his arm and walked over to where her aunt was seated, and loudly declared, "You're in my seat, and will vacate it immediately blondie."

Everyone in the room froze in apprehension as wondered just what this young girl was up to. In response to this outrage, Riser Phenex began ratcheting up the temperature, only for Amy to point a finger at his face and utter the words:

**xXx Let it snow! xXx**

**Author's Note 1:** Amy's the sort to sing Christmas carols while hexing people with ice-based spells, while Daphne's more the type to sing Frozen's signature song.

If you need help figuring out where the chapter title came from, just remember that the hills are alive with the Sound of Music.

**Author's Note 2: **Unfortunately, I woke up this morning (11/15/2019) wanting to try an idea that I had discussed with Quatermass earlier and which he turned down due to my not having any experience with the character in question, but which I now realize isn't actually a factor due to the fact that if I do what I had discussed with him, the character will have a substantially different personality. I won't discuss what the story idea is until/if I get it off the ground, but it does mean this idea won't be continued, at least for now.

**Author's Note 3:** for those who are wondering what the three girls look like in this fic, well I modeled them in my head after images by GigaMessy on DeviantArt. Specifically #94 Rocio for Amy, #84 G36 for Daphne, and #44 Mami Marquez for Hermione; the latter of which will be my default image for Hermione, as it sort of acts as a merger of the Emma-Hermione and the Cursed!Child-Hermione.


	5. Life 5: Back in Black

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

**xXx Back in Black xXx  
xXx Aborted C01: One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest xXx**

* * *

Soleil Potter stepped into the backyard of No. 4 Privet Drive, and waited for her super-smart owl to give an all-clear sign, which came in the form of a beak clack.

Once she had her owl's approval, Soleil revealed her pitch black angel wings, and flapped them in a way that would make one think it should propel both her and the owl into the air. In reality, this was a form of teleportation that took them from Surrey, England all the way to the outskirts of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

As soon as they materialized at their destination, both Soleil and Hedwig, the owl, took to the skies using their respective sets of wings. This is because teleportation spells can actually be tracked, while can't be tracked unless you are present when the person or animal you wish to track is actually taking off to begin with.

* * *

It took Soleil a little over five hours in flight before she heard Hedwig make a loud barking noise to get her attention so they could start descending towards a surprisingly small village in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France.

When they landed, it was in front of a structure for which the word 'house' was too insignificant a descriptor. This was a mansion, or possibly a palace. "Holy Flying Spaghetti Monster!"

"That's certainly an interesting choice in expletive," a masculine voice spoke up from behind Soleil. "Now, who might you be?"

This prompted Soleil to turn around and approximate a curtsy, "How do you do Monsieur Delacour, my name is Soleil Potter…"

Jacques Delacour blinked in mild surprise at the introduction, and before saying, "I did not think you would ever do the right thing."

"Bwha?" Soleil exclaimed, "What are you on about?"

Jacques frowned and said, "No one, not even my eldest daughter, explained what really transpired in that lake, did they?"

"Are you speaking French?" Soleil inquired, to which she got a nod, "Well that surprises me, cause you sound English to me."

"Translation magic?" Jacques inquired with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Perhaps we should step inside, I believe you should visit with Gabrielle, while I need to place a phone call."

"You have a phone?" Soleil inquired with an awed tone of voice.

"I like being allowed to sleep on my marital bed, so yes." Jacques informed the now blushing teenager.

After walking through several corridors they came to a closed door and Jacques said, "This is as far as I can go."

"Why's that?" Soleil inquired.

Jacques sighed and plaintively asked her, "I don't suppose anyone ever bothered to explain where babies came from, did they?"

"Uhm… I think Hermione might have tried, but I stopped paying any attention when the diagrams and charts came out. It's not like I actually needed the talk, simply spending a weekend at _Aunt _Marge's home allowed me to get an eyeful of the process."

"Wha-?"

"She's a _prize winning_ pitbull breeder, Monsieur Delacour. Now I'll go and locate Gabi, you go find that phone of yours." With that said, Soleil opened the door and passed into the area beyond, which turned out to be another stretch of hallway, at the end of which was another door. The problem was, she could now feel Gabi's allure, which meant the previous door was probably warded against it in some manner.

"This isn't going to be fun for either of us…" the girl muttered as she began the mind numbing march towards her first act of Snu-Snu.

* * *

Several hours later, Gabrielle Delacour opened her eyes and truly comprehended what had happened to her for the first time, she then looked at who it was that she was now bonded to, and found herself stunned. "S-Soleil? But…"

"She's still asleep," a voice that Gabrielle had never heard before informed her.

Gabrielle bolted into an upright sitting position with such speed that she should have woken Soleil from her slumber, but instead she simply found herself coming face to face with a blonde woman who had elf-like ears, and a scandalous sense of fashion. "Who are you?"

"I've had many names over the eons of my existence, but the one which you would likely recognize me under is Hedwig." The blonde woman informed the much younger looking blonde.

"Eh… but isn't Hedwig an owl?" Gabrielle inquired. Of course Gabrielle knew about Hedwig, everyone who had spent even one breakfast at Hogwarts had asked about the owl that Soleil seemed to be in an argument with, over the topic of who gets the last piece of bacon.

Rather than respond, the woman just tilted backwards and out of the window, causing Gabrielle to shriek and try to run out of the bed, and promptly get tangled in the sheets, pulling both her and Soleil out of the bed and onto the floor. Soleil just pouted at Gabrielle and asked, "You aren't very good at waking people up, are you?"

"But… but a woman just fell out of our window!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"And now I get to yell at Hedwig for something other than stealing bacon from my plate without asking."

"Wha-?"

"Yeah let's just um… where are my clothes?" Soleil wondered as she began looking around the room in a desperate attempt to locate the outfit she had been wearing before entering this chamber.

Gabrielle snickered at this before walking over to the door that Soleil must've used to enter this room, and pushing it open, "Thought so."

"You've got to be kidding me," Soleil moaned as she watched Gabrielle collect the outfit and bring it back into the room.

"I really shouldn't let you wear these," Gabrielle admitted as she looked at the oversized garments that Soleil had been wearing.

"It's not the clothes that are of any value, it's the stuff in the pockets." Gabrielle frowned before handing Soleil what she mentally considered to be rags.

After a few moments of digging, Soleil had collected her father's cloak, her wand and a natty old piece of parchment. Gabrielle raised an eyebrow and said, "One of these things is not like the others."

Snickering at her new girlfriend, Soleil took her wand and tapped it against the parchment while saying, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Gabrielle watched in confusion as words and lines started appearing on the previously blank parchment, complete with an introductory scrawl reading,

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
Are proud to present  
THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

As soon as Gabrielle comprehended what she was seeing, she stated saying "Holy mother of..."

But was cut off when Soleil asked, "the Flying Spaghetti Monster?"

This caused Gabrielle to glance up at her new girlfriend in confusion, before saying, "We can discuss expletives later, but can this do what I think it should be capable of?"

"If you think it is capable of eavesdropping on the castle's occupants, then yes, it can. Unfortunately, that won't do us any good as the Order of the Phoenix never meets within the, hold on what the…?"

"This Order's in the castle isn't it?" Gabi inquired.

"Um… look at this name here, and tell me what you see," Soleil requested as she handed the document over to Gabrielle while indicating a specific name.

Gabrielle scrunched up her face as she tried to describe what she was seeing, "How is a bunch of squiggly lines a name?"

"That's the trick with this map, when it displays someone's name it uses the version of that name your parents placed on your birth certificate, or whatever passes as a birth certificate in any given society. To me, that name looks Hebrew or Arabic, though I can't be sure if I'm right."

They then heard a knock on the door, which was followed by Gabi's mother saying, "Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes, girls."

"Mother, I do not approve of Soleil's clothes, do you think Fleur would mind…?"

"Considering who your sister has her heart set on, I do not think she will have much use for her current wardrobe, so feel free."

Soleil blinked, before turning to Gabrielle and asking, "Please tell me Fleur's not in as bad a state as you were?"

"Not to my knowledge," Gabrielle admitted. "That sort of thing is incredibly rare as it involves a Veela being helpless to defend herself from would-be assailants, which is normally impossible."

As they were leaving the room, Soleil frowned and asked, "Just who is it your sister is interested in that would cause her to disregard her entire wardrobe?"

"William Weasley," Gabrielle admitted with a scowl.

Soleil frowned before saying, "While I adore Bill, I can't say I look forward to having Molly as an in-law, to say nothing of Ron and Ginny."

**xXxXxXx**

**Author's Note:** I feel like I botched this idea rather fiercely, but wanted to post it simply because of the lulz I had when I thought up the main character's choice of expletive. This choice was made for her without her knowing what Kokabiel reveals rather early on in the DxD series, and is a result of her being both a Nephilim and a Witch who was forced to endure Vernon Dursley's idea of an exorcism.


	6. Life 6: Walking on Sunshine

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

**xXx Walking on Sunshine xXx  
xXx Ch. 01: Seculo seculorum xXx**

* * *

A young woman with floor length brown hair and vibrant green eyes looked back over her shoulder when she heard what could only be described as multiple feathered wings being flapped against one another to slow the descent of a very large bird as it approaches the ground. This woman was known as Rosalia Lillian Potter, and up until three years ago she had been engaged in a guerilla war against a man who most people referred to as 'You Know Who' due to just how much they feared his reputation, which was also before Tom Riddle had the temerity to enact a magical Taboo on his chosen pseudonym of Voldemort.

What Rosalia saw over her shoulder would have shocked her, if not for the fact that she had encountered more than a few wizarding relics that indicated such a being could exist in the past three years than she would care to admit. "Do you mind not flapping those wings in here? One wrong gust of wind and this entire ward matrix blows up in my face."

"Ah, my apologies then," the angel replied in the most soothing tone of voice he could manage. "My business can wait until you are finished."

Rosalia gave him an award winning smile and said, "Thank you for your courtesy." And then went right back to breaking down the magical equivalent to a minefield. This particular curse ward was set up back during the conflict with Grindelwald and has thus far been ignored by the ICW because of where it happens to be located, a muggle national park.

Several tense minutes went by as Rosalia continued working on bringing down a curse ward before giving out a cheer of triumph and standing from where she was crouched over an otherwise mundane looking stretch of the forest floor. Turning to regard the angel, she started her introductory monologue "I'm not pure or innocent…"

Only for the angel before her to blush and avert his eyes while commenting, "I'm more than aware of that fact."

This caused Rosalia to raise an eyebrow and say, "Do you have an explanation for that which won't result in me hexing you?"

The angel sighed and turned to look at her, "My name is Michael, and over the past several centuries I have been performing the same functions in Heaven that an Interim Minister for Magic would within Great Britain's magical government."

"Am I to take that to mean that God is actually dead?" Rosalia inquired.

"Only from the viewpoint of someone who perceives time as a strict progression of cause to effect," Michael admitted.

"But of course, time's anything but linear or subjective," the girl nodded her understanding. "I learned that during my third year at Hogwarts."

"That was the same year you did something which brought you to the attention of not just Heaven but the other two Biblical factions as well. It is fortunate that you were almost always behind incredibly effective wards until recently, otherwise you might never have lived long enough to deal with the threat that Tom Riddle posed," Michael admitted with a pained expression.

"I haven't been under such wards since the end of the war…" Rosalia remarked with a note of concern.

"Which is why I've been following you around and keeping you safe, mon amour!" a feminine voice exclaimed at the same time as an incredibly voluptuous blonde negated the disillusionment charm she had been hiding under.

Rosalia frowned when she realized who the blonde was and commented, "Something seems different, but I can't quite place my finger on it…"

Gabriel of the Seraph tilted her head to the side in a manner that would imply she had no idea what Rosalia was talking about, and then in a completely innocent tone of voice said, "I grew up?"

Rosalia was about to reply to that when Michael said, "Perhaps I should explain why I decided to meet with you in person."

"Killjoy," Rosalia griped as she turned her attention back to the main, "So…?"

"Due to recent developments, our faction has gained the ability to transform select mortals into angels, and I wish to use that process on you. Specifically, I wish to elevate you to the status of Queen within my Brave Saint Deck, which is a system based around games like Poker or Black Jack."

Rosalia frowned before glancing over at Gabriel, which caused Michael to say, "Part of the reason I am offering this to you is so that you and my younger sister can pursue the relationship that Gabriel seems to desire from you without the risk of having her fall from grace which would happen if she had to watch helplessly as…"

"Stop," Rosalia said as she noticed something in Gabriel's behavior that caused her to need to ask a very awkward question. "Gabi, did anyone ever give you an explanation on how humans go about making babies with one another?"

Gabriel tilted her head and asked "Lots of love?"

"Michael, I'll agree to your offer on the condition that you explain the birds and the bees to my new girlfriend."

Michael tilted his head to the side for a moment, and said, "Sister dear, go and ask your new Queen to explain the 'birds and bees' to you."

Gabriel looked at her brother dubiously for several seconds and said, "I'll be sure to mention that Rosie told you to give me this talk, brother dear."

The look of fear that etched itself across Michael's face made it obvious to Rosalia that he had a thing for Gabriel's Queen, but Gabi had already vanished before Rosie could point that out to her new girlfriend. Shaking her head, Rosie pulled out a cell-phone and dialed a number. "Who are you calling?"

"The girl who thought she was Gabi's sister." Rosalia admitted. She then began ignoring him as the line had connected, "Fleur, I just found Gabi."

There was silence for several seconds before the woman on the other end said, "_I'll begin making plans for the…"_

"She's alive, Fleur. She's also rather rude, what with following me around all this time without bothering to say hello." Michael winced at that admission, as it was actually on his orders that Gabriel had remained concealed these past three years.

"_She's always been a bit precocious… Rose, please keep her safe."_

"Seculo seculorum." Those two words did much to soothe the fears in the hearts of both Michael and Fleur Delacour, as both were attempting to save their precious little sister in their own way. "I'll send an owl with a portkey as soon as I have a permanent residence, which shouldn't take more than a week."

"_Thank you, mon amie. Now excuse me, Victoire is chasing Mincemeat again."_

"I still can't believe you named a cat that," Rosalia remarked even as Fleur hung up the line.

"I dread to ask, but what did they name their cat?" Michael inquired with a curious look upon his face.

"The colors and patterns of its fur gives the impression that you're looking at a bowl of minced meat, so they went with that as the name."

**xXx Chapter Concluded xXx**

**Author's Note:** This idea may or may not be continued, but most likely not, I'm not quite sure where I was going with it. On that note, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that the name I gave Fleur's cat was inspired by the first cat I can remember my family having as a pet, so you could say it was a cameo by one of my family's pets.


End file.
